Barber’s Shop @museum.de

M: As soon as a customer walks in, stand up at once and welcome him with a bow. Relieve him of his hat, walking-stick or umbrella, help him to take off his overcoat and politely ask him to sit down.

F: Etiquette for apprentice barbers, rule one. And those rules were doubtless observed at Heinrich Puhe's barber’s shop. In the old days, anyone who needed to visit the barber’s in Lette would take a seat at Heinrich Puhe's shop on Bahnhofsallee. We have the original furnishings on display here. There are shaving brushes and razor blades, beard trimmers, lavender-scented hair tonic, brushes and scissors, Palmolive shaving foam and curling tongs.

M: Take a look at the back of the barber's chair – do you see the broad leather strap on the right? It’s called a razor strop. The barber would put the strop under tension and then run the razor back and forth to sharpen it.

F: Nearby, you can see a Visier brand rigid hood hair dryer made by the Müholos company. The drier has a hinged visor made of Plexiglas – perhaps better known as Perspex. A control switch was used to adjust the temperature displayed on the Visier. Once the drying time was up, a buzzer would sound. This type of rigid hood hair dryer became increasingly popular from the 1950s onwards – not least because Perspex is a stable material that is easy-to-process.